


into the quiet i am bound

by eternalmagic



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, i decided not to tag them though i may change that eventually, kink meme fill, mentons of yuffie; rinoa from ff8; aerith; sora; and cid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 03:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13239963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternalmagic/pseuds/eternalmagic
Summary: He hates when Squall shows up in the dead of night like this.[ a strifehart role reversal. a repost from the strifehart kink meme. ]





	into the quiet i am bound

**Author's Note:**

> this was a fill for the strifehart kink meme a while back! here's the request:  
> "Role Reversal! Cloud's the leader of the restoration committee and Leon's the one with the stalker (and/or boner for the darkness) overshadowing their relationship."
> 
> this prompt got a second, much better fill, but i'm still proud of this one! i like writing little moments like this. and since i'm working on a different prompt from this meme (though its kind of inactive), i thought i would revisit this one a little and finally bring it over here. it's had a few edits made, but nothing major. anyway, i hope you enjoy! this was fun to write. (title from norah jones' "carry on".)

He hates when Squall shows up in the dead of night like this.

Cloud refuses to call Squall _Leon_ , because it’s strange and he’s known him too long as Squall to call him anything else. When Squall had shown up in Traverse Town years ago, demanding to be called Leon and with a girl in tow, he hadn’t really understood it. Rinoa settled into their group easily enough (as she got along with practically everyone) but no one had any idea where she’d come from. Cloud suspected she and Squall knew each other before Squall first appeared in Radiant Garden, that she had some role in why he was at the Coliseum so much.

Whenever he asked about it, though, Rinoa always became uncharacteristically quiet, expression closed off. A moment would pass, and then she'd smile brightly before smoothly changing the subject.

It’s been years since they reclaimed Radiant Garden, but Squall still disappears for months at a time. Before Sora saved their world, it was understandable--Squall had his deal with Hades, and was called away to do...well, whatever it was a god of death might need a mercenary for. Cloud hadn’t ever liked it, but he couldn’t say much about that arrangement, given his own history. Now, though...Cloud doesn’t know what pulls Squall away, what keeps him from staying.

He’s tempted to ask now, to break the silence they’ve fallen into. He glances up from the wound he’s stitching together to try and get a read on what Squall is thinking.

The brunette has always been a bit of an enigma. He’d appeared in their home just before Radiant Garden fell nearly a decade ago, silent and nearly unresponsive. Eventually, though, Cloud was able to draw him out of his shell a little and the blonde was pleasantly surprised to find that Squall was actually very intelligent behind his stoic mask, armed with a sharp wit he wasn’t afraid to use and a caring heart that he almost never let others see. It was no surprise he was attracted to Squall, but it was tough when the brunette was so hard to read. Cloud sometimes still wonders just what was going on in Squall's mind half the time.

Cloud pauses in his work to study the Gunblade wielder. The light of the desk lamp Cloud turned on frames Squall’s face, illuminating the edges of the short brown hair that falls across it. His eyes are focused on some point across the room, half-lidded from exhaustion. The worst of his wounds have been tended to, but Cloud can see smaller ones littering his frame. Squall looks as beautiful as ever--haunted by something, clearly, but beautiful in a way Cloud finds hard to describe.

Cloud turns his attention back to his work.

“You haven’t been this busted up in a while.”

Squall’s eyes flick to the blonde, the slate blue unreadable, then turn back to whatever he’d been staring at before with a small noise of agreement.

“Hope you beat up whatever did this.”

Squall doesn’t acknowledge the comment, instead hissing a little as Cloud is a little too rough with his needle.

They sit in silence until Cloud is done, cutting away the excess stitching. The blonde rises from his chair, setting the bloody gauze and supplies by the door to take to the kitchen later. He sighs; Aerith and Rinoa are both going to have a field day with this.

“So.” Cloud settles back into his chair, leaning his elbows on his knees, tilting his head to watch the other’s face. “You gonna finally tell me what all this is about?”

Squall frowns, brows knitting together as he meets Cloud’s eyes. As he looks away, he mutters, “...No.”

“You at least going to stay long enough for breakfast? The girls would love to see you.”

The younger male frowns more, turning his head to the side. He’s avoiding answering, like he usually does.

“Squall…” Cloud hates this. He hates that he doesn’t know what’s making Squall like this, what’s driving him away and giving him even more things to worry about. He sets his hand gently on the other’s shoulder, opening his mouth to say more, but Squall cuts him off.

“I’m not going to tell you, so you should know not to ask by now.” His words are harsh, but his tone belies it.

Cloud is itching to tell him off--to say that he’s getting awfully tired of patching up wounds and having no way to prevent them. But instead he says nothing, just cradles the back of his head, pressing a trail of feather-light kisses from his temple to the corner of his mouth. Squall doesn’t reciprocate, but he relaxes into Cloud’s hands just a little.

“Get some rest.” Is all Cloud says, murmured into the corner of the other’s mouth.

The brunette doesn’t move or say anything in response, eyes closed gently. It takes a moment, but Cloud realizes he must have fallen asleep already. That makes a small smile ease its way onto Cloud’s face, and he huffs.

Figures.

Cloud eases Squall gently down onto the bed, wrestling off his boots before draping a blanket over him. Cloud settles in on the other side of him, watching and listening to be sure he’ll be alright before drifting off himself.

He’s not surprised to find Squall gone come morning--but there’s a ring sitting on his bedside table, the engraved one Squall always twists around his finger whenever worried or thinking. Cloud smiles minutely, slipping it on before getting ready for the day.

  
  
  


Squall doesn’t appear in Radiant Garden again for three months.

But life moves on, as it always has. Cloud has plenty to worry about already, between the restoration and the castle computer system and the Heartless. Sora drops by often to help wherever Cloud needs him (often times bringing Riku and Kairi with him), but he’s usually running off with Donald and Goofy before long. Yuffie and Rinoa keep things lively around town--combine their antics with Merlin’s sometimes disastrous spells, and Cloud’s got enough to give him a migraine most days.

“It’s not so bad.” Aerith says one night before dinner, glancing at Cloud from where he’s peeling potatoes for her. “Variety is the spice of life, Cloud.”

“Well, I’d like it if that spice didn’t destroy three rooftops.” Cloud grumbles, taking some of his irritation out on the poor vegetable on his hand. “Honestly, you’d think they would know not to play fight on Merlin’s roof by now…”

He’s paused in his peeling to glance out of the window, and when he does his voice trails off. Aerith notices this and follows his gaze--she gasps in surprise, dropping the knife she’s holding. In an instant, both are running out of the house, dinner long forgotten.

Squall has collapsed by the time they reach him, Lionheart held limply in his hand. Aerith casts Cure a few times, and the color slowly returns to his face--he looks even worse than the last time he’d been so bloody and battered, but the magic seems to take care of most of it. Once they’re sure he’s stable, Cloud gently gathers Squall into his arms and carries him back towards the house. All conversation dies the moment they return, all eyes on Cloud and Squall in his arms. Rinoa steps forward, looking like she wants to say something, but lets Cloud pass to put the brunette to bed.

He doesn’t leave Squall’s side as he sleeps--Cloud’s concern about him resurfaced the moment he’d spotted Squall staggering through the street, and he’ll be damned if something happens on his watch. Cloud settles into a chair next to his bed, and waits.

Dinner comes and goes, and it’s a few hours later when Squall’s eyes finally open. Cloud had spent the time working, filtering through Cid's design sketches of the new residential block and its square while he waits. The blonde’s head shoots up the moment he hears Squall moving.

Squall blinks wearily at the desk lamp, the light probably hurting his eyes, and slowly turns to Cloud.

“--You scared everyone quite a bit, you know.” The blonde says, voice quiet.

“...Sorry.”

He does look sheepish about it, in his usual _I’m Squall and I have trouble showing emotion_ kind of way, and it brings a small smile to Cloud’s face.

“There’s probably some dinner left downstairs. You're probably hungry.”

“A little.” Squall scrubs at his eyes, still groggy. Finally, he sits up and mutters, “...I feel like shit.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but you _look_ like shit.”

Squall levels an unamused look at Cloud, making the other laugh, before making an annoyed noise through his teeth. “...Whatever.”

His tone is less irritated and much more fond.

There’s a silence. Cloud thinks there’s something _different_ about Squall, somehow--he seems more lively than he usually does when dropping in unannounced, but Cloud can’t put his finger on what it is. Maybe it was that he’d rested a little, and didn’t look like he’d been run over anymore.

“...She’s gone.”

The sudden statement catches Cloud off guard. Squall has turned to face him, slate blue eyes intense as they catch his gaze. In an instant, the blonde knows just what he’s talking about.

“Yeah?” Cloud prompts.

“A sorceress.” Squall says it quietly, watching Cloud to gauge his reaction before turning away. “She's been trying to kill me for a very long time; she's pursued me since I left my original world.”

The way Squall cuts off leads Cloud to believe there’s more to the story than just that, but he doesn’t press the matter. Instead, he rises and leans over to press his lips to the crown of Squall’s head.

“Hope you kicked her ass.”

“...Mmm.” Squall tilts his head back to invite a proper kiss, mumbling something about how she shouldn’t bother him for a while.

They kiss, Cloud smiling as he closes the distance between them. It’s soft and slow, something the blonde has wanted for some time and is happy to finally get. This was nice. He could get used to having Squall here, staying for longer than a single night.

He doesn’t want to pull away, but... “You should get a little cleaned up.”

Squall doesn’t respond more than nodding his head slightly.

“I’ll leave some fresh clothes out for you, get something for you to eat downstairs.”

“Okay.”

They kiss once, twice, three more times before parting. Squall stands and trudges towards the bathroom, leaving Cloud to set out a new set of clothing to change into.

Some time later, Squall appears downstairs--he looks a lot more lively, more normal. Cloud smiles fondly as Rinoa hugs the younger male happily, chattering at him as Squall finds his meal and heads to the sofa Cloud is sitting on. The brunette settles in next to him, hesitantly leaning a bit more firmly against the other. Cloud welcomes it, lifting his arm to drape across Squall’s shoulders.

He spends the rest of the night watching as Rinoa and Yuffie catch their friend up on what’s happened in his absence, smile widening as Squall gently entwines their hands. He presses a small kiss to the other’s temple, happy when Squall leans more onto Cloud’s side.

Yes, he could definitely get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr at x-eternalmagic or howdomaddie, and on twitter at howdomaddie!


End file.
